One of the company's content strategists Tyler Hively, a wheelchair user himself, came up with the idea when he realized that there wasn't a fitness tracker suitable for people in his situation. Hively collaborated with Chaotic Moon's BASE innovation lab to come up with Freewheel.

The device will be able to take into account the additional muscle use needed to move the chair across different terrain. It attaches to a wheelchair and uses a gyroscope, accelerometer, barometer, and Hall effect sensors to identify speed, acceleration, altitude, incline and decline.

Freewheel will be able to transmit data to wearable devices via Bluetooth for heart rate monitoring and will connect to smartphones to send notifications and alerts to the users. Because wheelchair users don't necessarily have their hands-free, audible alerts are part of the package.

Over time, the company expects Freewheel to gather important information for cities and mountains that can be used for a number of different things. As the user travels around, the device collects terrain data, which can then be used to determine the best route for hikers, skateboarders, bicyclists, and more.

"Project Freewheel is something that we think could affect a lot of people's lives and do good for the world," said Chaotic Moon CEO Ben Lamm.

In a statement to TechCrunch, Lamm noted that the company already has "gotten our patents straight," and the device is near completion. "You can probably expect to see it available in the next few months.

4 Comments

02-Mar-2016 2:34 pm

Spike says:

I think this a great idea and finally, a device that will accurately keep track of motion, activity, and hopefully calorie burn while I roll. I'm wondering, since it's Bluetooth, are you working at all to be compatible w/ Fitbit devices?.... That would be awesome! Thanx to the developers and please keep me posted — Spike

I think this is a great idea but I was also wondering if it takes into account the fact that we use our arms for things other than pushing. Is it geared to a specific type of movement that mimics an actual push as opposed to a reach etc.